De afgelopen jaren ging veel aandacht uit naar de opkomst van radicaal-rechtse partijen en hun invloed op de Nederlandse politiek. Veel minder aandacht is er voor de andere kant van deze ontwikkeling: hoe reageren Nederlanders met een migratieachtergrond op een politiek klimaat waarin migratie en islam steeds meer en heviger aangevallen worden? Mobilisatie migrantenkiezers Nieuw […]
Het bericht Rechtse radicalisering mobiliseert migrantenkiezers verscheen eerst op StukRoodVlees.
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Australasian (Purple) Swamphen
Scientific Name: Porphyrio porphyrio
Description: The Purple Swamphen is a large rail. It is mainly dusky black above, with a broad dark blue collar, and dark blue to purple below. As the Purple Swamphen walks, it flicks its tail up and down, revealing its white undertail. The bill is red and robust, and the legs and feet orange-red. For such a bulky bird, the Swamphen is an accomplished flier and will readily take to the air to escape danger. In flight, the long legs and elongated toes trail behind or hang underneath the body. Purple Swamphens are proficient swimmers, but prefer to wander on the edges of the water, among reeds and on floating vegetation.
Distribution: Purple Swamphens are common throughout eastern and northern Australia, with a separate subspecies common in the extreme south-west of the continent. Birds have transported themselves from Australia to New Guinea and New Zealand and throughout the islands of the south-west Pacific. It has been suggested that the New Zealand population of Purple Swamphens (locally called the Pukeko) originated in Australia.
Habitat: The Purple Swamphen is found around freshwater swamps, streams and marshes.
Seasonal movements:
Feeding: The diet of the Purple Swamphen includes the soft shoots of reeds and rushes and small animals, such as frogs and snails. However, it is a reputed egg stealer and will also eat ducklings when it can catch them. The Purple Swamphen uses its long toes to grasp food while eating.
Breeding: Purple Swamphens are generally found in small groups and studies have shown that these consist of more males than females. More than one male will mate with a single female. All family members, and occasionally the young from a previous brood, share in incubation and care of the young. The nest consists of a platform of trampled reeds with the surrounding vegetation sometimes being used to form a shelter. Often two broods will be raised in a year.
Calls: A loud, penetrating 'kee-ow', as well as some softer clucking between members of a group while feeding.
Minimum Size: 44cm
Maximum Size: 48cm
Average size: 46cm
(Source: www.birdsinbackyards.net)
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Het scheepvaartverkeer door de Straat van Hormuz is donderdag nagenoeg tot stilstand gekomen, nadat de Verenigde Staten voor de tweede dag op rij aanvallen hadden uitgevoerd op Iran. Uit scheepsgegevens blijkt dat de bewegingen in de belangrijke zeestraat zich grotendeels beperken tot een door Iran goedgekeurde route in het noorden van de Straat van Hormuz, terwijl de door de VS ondersteunde corridor bij Oman er verlaten bij ligt.
Woensdag voeren in totaal veertien vrachtschepen door de straat; het laagste aantal sinds het tijdelijke vredesakkoord tussen de VS en Iran van half juni. Het is een scherpe daling ten opzichte van de dagelijkse bedrijvigheid in de afgelopen periode. Volgens gegevens van data- en analysebedrijf Kpler lag het gemiddeld aantal dagelijkse doorgangen van vrachtschepen in de eerste drie weken na het sluiten van het akkoord op 34, met een piek van 59 op 24 juni.
Ton Koenderik is verbonden met verboden extremistische groepen in Duitsland. En niet alleen daarover loog hij. Toch werd hij wethouder in het Twente Berkelland.
Ton Koenderink werd op 30 juni geïnstalleerd als wethouder, kondigde zondagavond al zijn vertrek aan en diende maandagochtend formeel zijn ontslag in. Toch ontstond vanaf zijn installatie direct het recht op wachtgeld
Ton Koenderink werd wethouder namens de lokale partij Samen voor Berkelland, maar legde die functie binnen enkele dagen neer na onthullingen over zijn verleden. Hij profileerde zich eerder als “wappie”, was actief in antivax-kringen en stond op het podium bij een complotprotest op het Museumplein in 2023.
Volgens onder meer Tubantia en BNNVARA trad Koenderink op als ‘arbiter’ voor een sympathisant van de extreemrechtse Reichsbürgerbeweging, een Duitse groepering die de rechtsstaat niet erkent en al eerder is vervolgd voor staatsgreepplannen. Hij zou daarnaast medeoprichter zijn van een soevereinenbeweging (Sapiëntes/Sapientes) en betrokken zijn geweest bij brieven voor een pseudo-tribunaal, gericht aan tientallen buitenlandse ambassades.
Volgens de geldende regels maakt het daarbij niet uit dat het om een zeer korte periode gaat. Wachtgeld is bedoeld als overbrugging voor politieke ambtsdragers die hun functie verliezen, ook wanneer zij zelf opstappen. De minimale duur is in dit geval zes maanden en de uitkering kan oplopen tot 80 procent van het salaris.
In Berkelland bedraagt de volledige bezoldiging van een wethouder 9.042,33 euro per maand. Tachtig procent daarvan is 7.233,86 euro. Over zes maanden komt dat uit op 43.403,18 euro. Met vakantietoeslag en eindejaarsuitkering erbij loopt het totaal op tot 50.477,89 euro.
APELDOORN (ANP) - In de eerste helft van 2026 zijn in Nederland 3476 personenvoertuigen gestolen. Dat is 9 procent minder dan in dezelfde periode een jaar eerder, meldt Stichting Verzekeringsbureau Voertuigcriminaliteit (VbV). Door de daling van het aantal diefstallen daalde ook de schadelast voor verzekeraars.
Het aantal diefstallen van lichte bedrijfsauto's nam met 5 procent af tot 886 en het aantal gestolen motorfietsen daalde eveneens met 5 procent, tot 887. Alleen het aantal gestolen bromfietsen steeg, met 10 procent tot 5368.
De totale schadelast van gestolen personenvoertuigen kwam in de eerste jaarhelft uit op ruim 57 miljoen euro. Dat is 13 procent minder dan in dezelfde periode vorig jaar. Het gemiddelde schadebedrag per gestolen personenvoertuig bedroeg 16.489 euro. Ook bij motorfietsen nam de totale schadelast af, met 8 procent tot 5,5 miljoen euro. Bij lichte bedrijfsauto's bleef de totale schadelast nagenoeg gelijk.
Low-emissivity windows also keep houses warm in winter, but use on bowed glass can have magnifying-glass effect
Low-emissivity or low-E window glass is a useful green technology for keeping buildings warm in winter and cool in summer … but a rare side-effect can set the neighbours’ property on fire.
The glass is coated with a thin layer of metal or metal oxide which lets visible light through but acts like a mirror in the infrared. Heat from the interior is reflected back in, retaining warmth in winter, while unwanted solar radiation is repelled in summer.
Continue reading...Two women who alleged they were raped by Tyrion Davis in Suffolk had to testify at an invasive court martial on a US base
Minutes after fleeing the home of an American airman, Rebecca called 999 in tears to report that he had raped her. She recalls vomiting at a police station in Suffolk as she described being repeatedly and violently attacked.
Officers took her to a sexual assault referral centre for an intimate examination. There, a nurse measured and photographed her injuries, including bruises and bite marks on her neck.
Continue reading...The gates of Jinwar are guarded but inside is a peaceful refuge created by women escaping war and hardship. Photographer Matteo Trevisan documents life here and at other female-led communities in the country’s north-east
A mother carrying a rifle on her shoulder and gripping a walkie-talkie stands guard at the entrance to Jinwar, a women-only commune in Syria. Beyond the gate, about 30 mud-brick houses dot the desert landscape, their gardens filled with flowers, vegetables and fruit trees.
The village, just outside the city of Qamishli in Syria’s predominantly Kurdish north-east, is a burst of colour amid the dust. Opened in 2018, Jinwar has become a refuge for women from across the region – Kurds, Arabs and Yazidis among them. Some residents arrived after losing husbands to Islamic State (IS); others left abusive marriages in search of safety and independence. It describes itself as “a place for women who want to live a free life with other women and children, women who do not want to get married, women who lost their husbands in war or who were facing violence in their families”.
Vegetable harvest in Jinwar, where the women cultivate much of their own food, growing aubergines, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions and garlic
Continue reading...This Napoleonic classic is all too often overcomplicated, but this ode to the French-British author’s version is both simple and stunning
A few weeks ago, as part of the British Library’s food season, the novelist Michèle Roberts, biographer Francesca Wade, writer Eli Davies and food writer Rebecca May Johnson were brought together for a discussion on women’s culinary lives, and on the kitchen as a space of creativity, resistance and intellectual life. I couldn’t be there, but by all accounts it was a brilliant discussion, which I hope was recorded.
I have, though, read all four authors’ recent books. Davies’ perceptive and funny The Spinster Cookbook, which explores what it means to shop, cook (or not) for one in a society designed for couples and families; Wade’s tremendous and deeply researched exploration of the making and remaking of Gertrude Stein in Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife (was Stein a genius or the high priestess of the cult of unintelligibility? We are left to decide); May Johnson’s welcoming, challenging and tomato sauce-filled Small Fires; and Roberts’ slim, second cookbook, French Cooking for Two.
Continue reading...Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?
Brenda from Bristol entered the history books when she uttered the immortal words “You’re joking! Not another one” about the prospect of a general election. The Thursday quiz feels much the same when it looks at the calendar and notes that yet another week features a Thursday, and it needs to rouse itself to write something. Fifteen questions on topical news, general knowledge and popular culture await. There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!
The Thursday news quiz, No 255
Continue reading...Author argues symbols such as daisy wheels are no more than the working marks of stonemasons
Over the years, English Heritage and Historic England have claimed to have identified large numbers of “witches’ marks” or “ritual protection symbols” on the walls of historic buildings, including medieval churches and houses.
Now a leading architectural historian has said there is “absolutely no evidence” that these marks have anything to do with witches or any “mystical meanings”.
Continue reading...GVI shuts down without refunds for students booked on volunteer programmes with overseas conservation projects
UK students who paid thousands of pounds for summer and gap year placements on overseas conservation projects have lost everything after their eco tour operator shut down.
GVI, which offered volunteer and internship placements on wildlife and marine projects across the world, was continuing to advertise trips until it went into liquidation and removed its website on 1 July.
Continue reading...As the all-inclusive holiday is having a revival, I am reminded of honing my buffet skills at the Pizza Hut salad bar in the 1980s – an invaluable experience
School’s almost out and the holidays are here, which means for millions of Britons we have arrived at the start line for what might be called our biggest annual event: Wimbledon and the World Cup are one thing, but the all-inclusive and all-you-can-eat buffet olympics remains, I would argue, this country’s strongest competitive sport. Arriving at Luton airport before dawn last year, my children walked past the bars and with the innocence of the American-born said, owl-eyed, “Are they drinking … alcohol?” They are, my darlings, and will continue to do so from first light in the terminal until the last coach leaves the resort.
This is how it is now. Since Covid, vacation trends in Britain have skewed increasingly towards formalising this country’s latent maximalist instincts when it comes to enjoying our holidays. Between 2023 and 2024, bookings for European all-inclusive resorts rose by 30%, and the latest figures from Abta suggest that a quarter of British holidaymakers will now opt for the all-inclusive – meaning bottomless canteen-style food and drink, which, no matter how much we paid for it up front, I defy any of us not to experience as “free”.
Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist
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